Annalise Steinmann P.
1
Voltaire, in his novel Candide, addresses the unnecessary violence and glorification of
war, as well as war’s lack of purpose, through the repetition of certain mocking phrases, and the
emphasis on particular details and images.
Through certain derisive ideas, Voltaire portrays how war stands to be glorified without
purpose. To begin, Voltaire uses the repeated idea of “sufficient reason” throughout the first
three chapters of his novel, and within the third chapter, states that the “bayonet provided
‘sufficient reason’ for the death of several thousand more”(25). Voltaire uses this word earlier in
the novel to make fun of Pangloss, the tutor, as well. This serves the purpose of making fun of
the rationale behind this war, as he doesn’t use ‘sufficient reason’ literally, but to criticize an
action. Voltaire uses the word ‘sufficient’ to describe this reason ironically as the death of
thousands of people isn’t reasonable, and the justification for these deaths isn’t adequate, which
overall points to Voltaire’s view of war being an unnecessary evil within the world. Also,
Voltaire repeats the idea of “cause and effect” throughout Candide. In the context of chapter
three, this phrase is used when Candide is running away from the war after failing to find any
way to “pursue his reasoning into cause and effect” within Abar territory. Candide’s character is
depicted as someone who is vulnerable, naive, and innocent, as shown by his actions outside of
the Thunder-ten-tronckh estate and by his name itself, which also means naivety. As taught by
his tutor Pangloss, he searches optimistically for the purpose behind everything, as he was taught
there always is one (). However, even Candide, who’s not only someone so largely naive, but
someone who searches for the meaning and purpose behind everything, can’t identify with the
purpose of war and its savage happenings, and moves on elsewhere. This shows how much war
is lacking in purpose as Candide, in all his honesty, chose to defy the Bulgars by running away
from the war instead of facing his newfound responsibilities.
It is also through certain images and details that Voltaire communicates his idea of the
unnecessary aspects of war. As Candide makes his way through the Abar village, Voltaire
vividly describes the massive piles of violently killed women and children, and illustrates the
bodies of dead women who “still clasped their children to their bloodstained breasts”(26). Rather
than men enlisted in active warfare, Voltaire details the bloody, gruesome deaths of women and
children to demonstrate the brutality of war, as women and children symbolize a special degree
innocence and vulnerability, evoking a sympathy and sadness in the readers that the simple death
of a man wouldn’t elicit. Also, the casual manner in which Voltaire employs these disgusting
images displays how society, and especially those involved in war, is desensitized to the massive
amount of deaths that take place in wartime. Also, while running away from the Bulgar wartime
efforts, Candide is stated to have “at last left the theatre of war behind him”(26). The use of the
image of a theatre of war rather than it simply being a site or a place helps Voltaire depict the
superfluous aspects of war, as the event itself doesn’t even feel real to Candide, as a theatre
creates an image of pretend, of artificiality, as the immense amount of violence and death is so
grotesque and unfathomable that it loses a level of reality.
To conclude, it is through Voltaire’s repetition of ridiculing ideas, and his application of
certain evocative images that portrays his view on war’s unnecessary and violent properties. Tim
O’Brien, in his novel titled The Things They Carried, expresses a similar, disdainful view of war
through similar techniques, as O’Brien also compares the features of a man killed in battle to the
features of a woman in the vignette titled “The Man I Killed.”
